Testimony Begins In 4th Trial Attempt

Witness Says He Saw Shooting

March 29, 1989|By MARK FELSENTHAL Staff Writer

SALUDA — A jury was selected and witnesses were heard Tuesday in the new trial of Randolph Bagby Jr., charged with first-degree murder in the May 1987 shooting of Tom Ollie "Skipper Smith" Johnson outside a restaurant in the community of Jamaica.

Bagby, of Church View, is also charged with using a gun in a crime.

This is the fourth attempt to try the case. In October, a mistrial was declared because all members of the jury were white and Bagby is black.

Middlesex Circuit Judge John E. DeHardit said the deciding factor in declaring the mistrial was a 1986 Supreme Court decision, Batson vs. Kentucky, in which the high court ordered a new trial. The ruling established that there could be the presumption of some prejudice affecting a trial where the jury does not include a member of the defendant's race, DeHardit said. Two of the 12 jurors selected Tuesday are black.

Witnesses called by Commonwealth's Attorney James H. Ward Jr. described how Johnson died of shotgun wounds to the chest in the parking lot of Oliver's Restaurant on Route 17. Two witnesses, Timothy W. Campbell and Bruce Scott, said they saw Bagby take aim with a gun. Another, Tony Smith, said he saw Bagby shoot Johnson twice with a Remington 16-gauge single-barrel shotgun.

Johnson, a resident of Center Cross, was walking to his car across the parking lot from the restaurant, Smith said. Bagby stood near the front of the restaurant, and after firing several times in the air, leveled the shotgun he was holding and fired twice at Johnson, who stood about 70 feet away, according to the witness.

"There's no question in your mind that he shot Skipper Johnson and he fell down?" Ward asked.

"No sir," answered Smith.

Witnesses said the shooting followed an argument inside the restaurant.

Pamela Sue Skinner, Johnson's fiancee at the time, wept as she identified Johnson from a photograph and as she recounted seeing his body.

Defense attorneys Benton H. Pollok and Raymond L. Greene sought to undermine the credibility of prosecution witnesses by pointing out discrepancies between sworn testimony given in June 1987 and witnesses' accounts Tuesday.

At one point Greene made a motion to dismiss testimony because he said memories were fogged by the time lag, but DeHardit ruled the witnesses' statements valid.

Ward objected vigorously at one point when Pollok read from a transcript of Smith's statement almost two years ago.

DeHardit dismissed the jury for about 10 minutes.

Ward claimed Pollok was "misleading the jury" by reading only portions of the statement and omitting others.

Pollok said he would read other sections of the statement and the trial resumed.

Pollok also asked Smith whether he bore a grudge against Bagby for once pushing him down.

Bagby's cousin, Stacy Bagby, testified he had heard Smith say, "I know he did it and I'm gonna get him for it," in reference to the Johnson shooting, when the two men were in jail at the same time.

More witnesses will be heard and the jury is expected to reach a verdict today.